HENDERSON, Nev. – The UC Irvine men's basketball team went down to the wire with Toledo and were able to prevail, 77-71, late Wednesday evening.

Forward Devin Tillis strung together an incredible night with 24 points, a new career high, on perfect 8-8 shooting from the floor and 4-4 from three-point range.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Freshman Derin Saran poured in 15 points for his fourth double figure scoring effort of the season in the victory
> Redshirt senior Justin Hohn rounded out the double figure scoring with his 11 points while knocking down all four of his shots from the line
> Guard Langston Redfield played stout defense going plus 17 in the game
> Fifth year Pierre Crockrell II dished out a game best four assists
> Forward Dean Keeler led the team off the glass with seven rebounds
> Carter Welling blocked two shots, a career best
> The Anteaters shot 60.9 percent (14-23) from the floor in the first half for their fourth game shooting over 0.500
> UCI did not trail in the second half
> Toledo was led by Ra'Heim Moss with 19 points on 7-14 shooting from the floor

FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"We made the plays down the stretch that we needed to win, but I don't think we had enough poise in the stretch where they were coming back to execute and rebound at the rate we needed to as a championship team. That was my message to our guys. Credit to Toledo for staying in there as they did a good job."

"We had some excellent performances. Devin was outstanding. A just outstanding and unbelievable stat line from him. Others played really well too. I thought Langston Redfield stood out to me as he was plus 17 without scoring on the stat sheet. He was just terrific as a competitor tonight and that is what is going to take for us."

FROM DEVIN TILLIS
"It was so important [to hit the early three] because I felt like I was in a slump hitting a three and today I really got opened up. Seeing that first three go in, it seemed like the rim just got bigger from there, so it was exciting. We have a lot to work on, but still being able to come up clutch at the end of the game was big for us because there are going to be games later on where we are going to have to do the same thing."

FIRST HALF
> Devin Tillis got the scoring started for the Anteaters with five straight points off a three-pointer (18:45) and driving layup (16:59), 5-4
> UC Irvine and Toledo went back and forth with the scoring before another Tillis three-ball (9:07) and drive to the hoop from Andre Henry (8:43) put the Anteaters back out front, 20-17
> The Rockets shot out to a four point advantage at 6:28, but UCI rallied to go on a 7-0 run that saw a fast break opportunity and triple from Justin Hohn and a put in from Hayden Welling, 29-26
> UCI then went on an 8-2 run that saw six points from Derin Saran to close out the half, 39-32

SECOND HALF
> UCI came out the break hot, stretching their advantage to 17 on a 13-3 run with Tillis taking the free real estate up to the hoop (19:49) and two triples (18:45, 15:49) and Andre Henry forcing himself up to the basket (18:12) and a long-range shot (17:48), 52-35
> Ofure Ujadughele made a clutch play with his jump up to the rim to finish on the offensive rebound where he drew the and-1 call, 55-40 (13:34)
> Guard Pierre Crockrell II stopped a Toledo 6-0 run with his pull up jumper by the free throw line at 11:25, 57-46
> Fouling on both sides proved costly as it allowed the Rockets to cut the deficit to one point with 33 seconds left on the clock, 72-71
> Hohn, Henry, and Tillis all made trips to the line as Toledo tried to buy themselves more time, but the Anteaters prevailed, 77-71

UP NEXT
UC Irvine returns to action on Friday Nov. 24 with a 1:15 p.m. game against Rice to close out the Ball Dawgs Classic.